


Nymphaea

by Attack_On_Feelings (delsol)



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Eventual Smut, Florist!Levi, Kissing, Language of Flowers, M/M, Pining!Levi, Turkish Eren Yeager, deliveryman!eren, levi has an accent kink, on hiatus see chapter 3 for info
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-29
Updated: 2016-05-28
Packaged: 2018-06-05 08:16:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6697018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/delsol/pseuds/Attack_On_Feelings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Working at a flower shop is far from what's depicted in teen novels, in fact Levi's never met a customer he hasn't wanted to throttle, let alone fall in love with.</p><p>Of course, there's always the cute delivery boy to switch things up.</p><p>(aka where Levi tries to get into the flower delivery boy's pants)<br/><strong><em>ON HIATUS AS OF 7/12</em></strong></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chrysanthemum

**Author's Note:**

> this was going to be posted after season 2 aired but season 2 is nowhere in sight so...  
> I plan to update once a week? but you know finals are soon ((:::
> 
> Written for the lovely [sab](http://gondolinnel.tumblr.com/)  
> and her birthday (which was in february lmao sorry) who actually works in a flower shop!
> 
> ANYWAYS ENJOY!  
> my tumblr is [fortress-of-fanfics](http://fortress-of-fanfics.tumblr.com/)  
> 

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> chry·san·the·mum
> 
> /kriˈsanTHəməm/ Secret admirer.

If there was anything in the entire world that Levi simply couldn’t stand, it was dirt; yet he surrounded himself with it five days a week, eight hours a day. Well, technically seven hours since he had an hour for lunch, but usually he ate in the tiny break room at the back of the shop anyways, so yes, eight hours.

 

You see, Levi was assistant manager, which was actually just a bullshit title Hanji made up, at Zoe’s Flowers.

 

The shop itself was a tiny brick building stashed downtown between a cute boutique and a family run Italian restaurant that had some of the best pizza Levi had ever tasted. The inside of Zoe’s was as small and quaint as it looked from outside with enough room to comfortably fit five or so customers, mainly due to the three aisles containing shelves of flowers taking up so much of the space and the see-through wall fridges taking up the rest of the room.

 

It was a nice paying job though, and most of the time Hanji dealt with newer customers so Levi wouldn’t scare them off on accident. Levi was also given control over the music stations the shop quietly played over shitty speakers which made his day a little better. The job itself was pretty easy too once you’d remembered how to treat all the different types of flowers.

 

For instance, tulips could only have so much water put in their vases otherwise they’d suck up too much causing them to wilt. Or how roses needed to be de-thorned and have a special powder added to their water in order to make them last longer.

 

One of the more annoying parts of the job is alternating flowers into the fridges kept along the side walls and changing the water of them. Over all though, it’s pretty quiet and relaxing, nearly therapeutic for Levi.

 

However, for as much as Levi liked his job, if you’d asked him where he saw himself in five years, Levi would’ve first told you anywhere but retail, and secondly nowhere that involved him to clean up other people’s messes, but here he was sitting behind a counter listening as a costumer profusely apologized for breaking a pot of geraniums and spilling mounds of dirt onto the floor in its wake.

 

He forced himself to smile at the finicky woman who kept insisting she would help clean up or at least pay for the damage, but Levi simply waved her off. “No, don’t worry I was just about to clean the floors anyways.” She looked doubtful at that, but nodded anyways and took her leave without a purchase.

 

When the bell above the door jingled, signaling the woman’s leave, Levi sighed and picked up the store’s bright yellow broom before beginning to sweep the dirt up into neat little piles for the dustpan.

 

The day had been pretty uneventful, though it usually was at this time of day on a Tuesday, so he couldn’t really complain about finally having something to do besides sit behind the counter and read weird Swedish magazines Hanji always seemed to stock up on.

  
Speak of the devil, Levi heard them before he saw them with their loud tromping footsteps advancing towards him from the back door of the shop. They were undoubtedly gossiping with the shop owner next door, Petra, before realizing they were still on the clock and needed to get back soon since it was almost Levi’s break.

 

“LEVIIII!” They screamed as they sprinted across the vinyl wood floors of the small shop before halting beside Levi’s kneeling form. “Oh, what happened here? Never mind, has Erwin stopped by with the mail yet?” They asked impatiently.

 

He rolled his eyes, not bothering to look up from the task at hand, and finished sweeping up the dirt and the unsalvageable parts of the geranium flowers. “Trust me if he had, he wouldn’t have left until you knew he was here.” Levi answered with a sarcastic smile, finally making eye contact with his overly energetic boss.

 

“Danggit! Our new flower supplier was supposed to send us a schedule yesterday but I didn’t see it in the pile. Now I don’t know when to expect our shipment of lilacs.” They pouted and offered Levi a dirt covered hand which he reluctantly took to pull himself up with.

 

“Well, Erwin usually comes around the same time Mike comes in so it should be anytime now.” He added with a shrug, putting the broom back in the storage room. Hanji nodded in agreement before taking a place behind the white counter to read the Swedish magazines while they waited.

 

Levi went to the back and fiddled with a bouquet he had been working on for the past few days which was going to be a house warming gift for someone named Hannah. It mainly consisted of pink lilies and baby’s breath scattered between the large pink petals. He was thinking of taking out the baby’s breath and adding a different type of small white flower instead, but was too busy enjoying the quietness of the back room and was quite frankly too lazy to search back fridges for new flowers.

 

Levi had found that when he’s alone in the shop for too long, his mind starts to stray from the task at hand and turns into deep thoughts that usually concern flowers. Like how the flashiest flowers, though they’re bought more frequently, don’t usually smell as nice as some of the plain ones.

 

Or during quiet times like these where Levi also found himself comparing flowers to different types of people.

 

Like how the lilies he was working with may look extravagantly beautiful, but with one wrong pull on them or a tiny twist in the wrong direction, the flower would simply drop and become useless, somehow reminding him of people who seem cool and interesting at first, but when you become closer it turns out they’re just a huge disappointment.

 

Kind of like himself, minus the appearing cool and interesting part though.

 

These fucking poetic flowers.

 

Hanji couldn’t sit in silence for too long so it was no surprise when ten minutes later they spoke loudly in the direction of the doorway that lead from the main shop to the backroom where Levi was.

 

“You know, Petra told me Oluo finally asked her on a date?” They heard Levi grunt, signaling for them to continue. “Apparently,” They added a dramatic pause before continuing, “He came in with a dozen roses, you know the ones he bought yesterday, and asked her out to Giuseppe’s for dinner Friday.”

 

Levi snorted and turned towards the doorway. “It only took him a year to do it.”

 

Hanji burst out laughing and Levi could hear the stool they were sitting on wobble against the floor.

 

“Don’t fall on the floor again, I’m not driving you to the hospital again.” Levi joked dryly, even though he wasn’t _completely_ joking.

 

This only served to make them laugh louder, causing Levi to roll his eyes and focus on the bouquet again. Two minutes until break, he thought with a sigh, picking up scissors to clip at leaves that were out of place.

 

The bells above the door jingled and Levi heard some shuffling around, but with a glance at the clock he realized his break had started precisely eleven seconds ago and he had more pressing matters to attend to than sit around chatting with whomever was out in the main room.

 

He found himself in the bathroom scrubbing at his hands, which were filthy after half a days work. He would never get how it didn’t bother Hanji to have dirty hands all day. They were the only florist Levi had met who didn’t mind dirt because, contrary to popular belief, florists usually _did_ mind the dirt they constantly dealt with and Levi was especially averted to it.

 

From inside the bathroom he could hear Hanji excitedly screaming about one thing or another, no doubt Erwin finally showed up in his stereotypical mailman get up that looked tight enough to belong in a cheesy 70’s porno. Levi had just talked to him the other day for quite a while about the happenings of his boring life, so he felt no urgency to go out and talk to him yet.

 

The conversation yesterday mainly consisted of Levi telling Erwin how his cat Aiko was doing and how he finally ended up buying an electric tea pot because nothing else exciting happened to him. Erwin was quick to joke how Levi was 29 years old but acted like a 60 year old recluse cat lady, which strangely enough Levi couldn’t find anything to refute his new title and ended up reluctantly agreeing.

 

It had been probably two or three years since Levi last went out to a club, and even longer since he’d gotten laid, which Hanji said explained why Levi acted like he had a huge stick shoved up his ass all the time.

 

Whatever, it wasn’t like Levi minded the way his monotonous life was at the moment. Well, he wasn’t thrilled with it or anything but, hey, beggars can’t be choosers.

 

Levi lingered in the bathroom a bit longer, rearranging stray hairs that had been ruffled when he’d fallen asleep on the counter earlier in the morning. He’d never really been able to fall asleep anywhere that wasn’t his apartment, but lately he’d been having trouble falling asleep due to the couple above his apartment that decided to go at it like rabbits _every. single. night._

 

With a sigh he left the comforts of the bathroom, planning to greet Erwin so he wouldn’t be forced to later while also grabbing his novel that he left behind the front counter.

 

Killing two birds with one stone, he thought as he shut the bathroom door behind him and made his way out onto the main floor. However, it wasn’t Erwin’s barely covered ass that Levi saw when he walked out of the hallway, rather it was a taller, less ripped, tanned man who looked way too young to be this attractive.

 

And damn that was a nice ass.

 

Levi cleared his throat, along with his inappropriate thoughts and made his presence known by walking behind the counter, brushing against the boy who was leaning against it as he went. It wasn’t a secret that Levi was gay, in fact Levi didn’t even know if gay was even the correct term for himself, but labels were too confusing.

 

“Levi! Meet Eren, he’s our new flower delivery guy, wait you are a guy right?” Eren smiled and nodded modestly at her overenthusiastic tone. “Great! I’m Hanji, they them pronouns, and this shy little shit over here is Levi.” They motioned over to where Levi was fiddling with a stray piece of paper that was placed atop his book.

 

“Hello, Levi. It is very nice to meet you!” Holy shit was all Levi could think when Eren had spoken. Levi nearly had to take a moment to calm his nether regions after hearing the surprisingly deep, accent filled voice that came from the man.

 

“You, uh, too.” Levi sputtered, trying to keep up a cool exterior by crossing his arms over his chest, but it probably just ended up looking like he was having stomach problems. It also didn’t help that his cheeks were burning bright red against his ivory skin and there was nothing he could do to cover it.

 

Hanji side-eyed Levi with analyzing eyes before smirking. “Eren that’s a lovely accent you’ve got there, where are you from?”

 

Eren chuckled and a slight blush formed on his tanned cheeks, causing Levi’s heart to have palpitations. “Uhm, well technically I’m from America but my parents are from Turkey and Germany so I grew up with their accents and it just kind of stuck I guess?”

 

“Well it sounds very lovely, Eren. Don’t you think so Levi?” Levi looked over to see their shit eating grin, but their gaze was strictly focused on Eren who was bashfully smiling.

 

“I’m on break right now so I don’t have to answer you. Just let Eren deliver the flowers so he can get on with his day.” He saw Eren’s eyes widen at his bluntness, but Hanji’s were sparkling with mischief. He didn’t want to stick around to see what they were planning, so he picked up his book and went back into the back room to salvage the ten minutes left in his break.

 

His heart rate was still rapidly beating as he forced himself to focus on the text in his book, but found himself skipping over the lines without really reading anything.  Levi didn’t really think much of it since this is what usually happened to him after talking to someone new, but he couldn’t help but feel that somehow this time it was different.

 

Levi scoffed to himself at the ridiculous thought and brushed it off, after all this wasn’t some teen novel with love at first sight bullshit. Eren was attractive and that was that.

 

Eventually the chattering in the main room stopped and Levi breathed a sigh of relief. He also reluctantly noted that he’d spent more time then he’d thought caught up in his inner turmoil and realized that his break was nearly over.

 

He sighed and decided to help Hanji prepare the newly delivered flowers instead of pretending to read for another two minutes. Besides it wouldn’t hurt to get his mind off of… well he didn’t even know what he wanted to get his mind off of to be completely honest.

 

When he reemerged from the back room, he’d noticed the reason it was so quiet up front was because Hanji was busy seeing Eren off by the front curb.

 

They both seemed to be too immersed in talking to notice Levi picking up the crates of lilacs placed near the front windows, however, when Levi returned for a second box, he’d noticed Eren nervously glancing at him and fiddling with the hem of his white uniform.

 

He just figured Eren’s nervousness was due to Levi’s resting bitch face, so he turned away from the window with the lilac filled crate in hand before he could make it any worse.

 

Levi was going about opening a few crates of flowers when he heard Hanji walk in. “Make yourself useful, you slacker.” He joked without looking up from fiddling with getting the remaining tape off from the side one of the crates.

 

“I wasn’t _slacking_ , Levi darling I was simply being hospitable.” They trailed off as they walked around the front counter right beside the table Levi was working at. “Oho, what’s this?” They questioned suddenly, causing Levi to look up.

 

In Hanji’s dirt covered hands lay a single, light yellow chrysanthemum.

 

Levi didn’t even know if it was meant for him, but the meaning behind what Eren had left made him blush anyways.

 

The new flower delivery boy was turning out to be _quite_  the distraction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments and kudos are greatly appreciated!


	2. Orchid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> or·chid  
> /ˈôrkəd/ Delicate beauty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guess who just finished her apush exam?? ME and to celebrate i'm posting the second chapter a bit earlier than I planned !!
> 
> also it turns out the first week of june i'm going to seattle to meet my friend so the fourth chapter might be a bit late? idk it all depends
> 
> thank you for those who commented and left kudos i really appreciate it!  
> ENJOY!

That night Levi couldn’t think, let alone sleep.

 

Most of his restlessness was due to the vulgar moans and gasps coming from the apartment above him, along with the harsh banging of what Levi assumed, and hoped, was their headboard.

 

He hadn’t realized that the sweet old lady that used to live in the apartment had moved out, but it was safe to say that the noises going on upstairs definitely w _eren’t_ coming from her. And thank god for that, Levi grimaced to himself at the image that flashed through his brain, one which he’d never thought he’d ever have to imagine.

 

But the other half of his restlessness was due to that god damned flower.

 

Hanji had insisted Levi take it home with him since the chrysanthemum Eren had left was their least favorite color, which caused Levi to raise a skeptical brow at their primarily yellow outfit. Nevertheless, Levi did end up leaving with the obnoxiously perky flower, and there he sat at two in the morning glaring at the chrysanthemum standing tall in one of his own vases while the couple above him went at it like there was no tomorrow.

 

What did the fucking flower even mean to Eren?

 

Did Eren just think it was pretty and decided to leave it? Did he somehow manage to drop the flower on the counter while lifting crates of lilacs?

 

Was this all some sort of practical joke?

 

He glared even more intensely, if it was even possible for someone who was merely dressed in batman boxers, at the flower that was making him over think everything at two in the fucking morning. At least the couple had finally seemed to be finishing up so Levi could finally think about trying to fall back asleep and stop thinking about a flower and the gorgeous man who left it.

 

Levi blamed those gorgeous eyes that for some reason reminded him of those tacky bridesmaids’ bouquets of artificially dyed daisies, but Eren’s eyes were in no way tacky. Levi just wasn’t going to give in to the urge of using the simile every single young adult novel used comparing blue eyes to the ocean. Nope. He definitely wasn’t going to compare Eren’s eyes to the gorgeous teal waves that seemed to swallow Levi whole.

 

Dammit.

 

Levi sighed and stood up from his small red dining table, heading across the tile floored hallway towards his room, trying to get at least four or so hours before he had to get up and open the shop up. At least he could sleep well knowing it would be at least a few days before Levi was faced with Eren again. Well that was the plan at least.

 

❁❁❁

 

However, when Levi went to unlock the main door to the shop the following day only to find it already unlocked, he knew something was up. Hanji never arrived to the shop until a few minutes before the shop was set to open, yet there was nearly an hour before it was.

 

Which meant only one thing. Hanji was scheming.

 

Levi sighed for the umpteenth time in the past two days and walked directly into Hanji’s barrage. Except when he walked through the doorway they were nowhere in sight. He knew it was only a matter of time until they made their presence known, so Levi used the peace and quiet to set himself up for Wednesday’s workload.

 

He stuck his packed lunch into the fridge in the backroom and began to cut off the thorns on the bundle of roses they’d received a few days before Eren dropped by with the lilacs. Though the work was usually nice and relaxing, nothing, and Levi means _nothing,_ is relaxing when it concerns roses. Though they looked extremely elegant and were the universal sign of love, they were a huge pain in the ass to deal with.

 

Levi cursed as yet another thorn pricked him on his dried out hands. The sight of his cracked knuckles reminded Levi that he needed to pick up more heavy duty moisturizer from CVS at some time after work, but until then he’d have to use Hanji’s nasty smelling Bath and Body Works shit. One of the things no one thinks to mention when you start out as a florist is how much working with dirt and constantly washing your hands dries out your skin. It seems rather obvious now to Levi, however when he first started the only thing Levi thought would bother him was the dirt, and to a point it still does to this day, but for the most part he’s lenient with messy things now due to this job.

 

The sudden slamming of the backdoor followed by the sound of cackling drew Levi out of his dirt and dryness reverie.

 

“Yeah, mhmm. Yes that sounds great!” There was a pause and Levi assumed Hanji was setting up an evening out on the phone with Petra. “Oh you’re such a cutie! Well, I’ll see you soon, Eren.” At that Levi’s eyes widened to the size of sunflowers.

 

He shot up from his work stool as if struck by lightning, striding quickly towards Hanji at the front desk before pushing his index finger directly between the bridge of their glasses. “What the hell are you planning, numb nuts?”

 

They feigned innocence, raising a hand to their chest. “Me? Planning something against my _best friend?_ Levi, who do you think I am?” They dramatically huffed, sitting down at the puke green chair stored under the counter.

 

Levi crossed his arms across his chest indignantly, eyes burning into their guilty, shitty soul. “I know you well enough to know you’re a stubborn, manipulative piece of shit.” 

 

No matter how hard he glared at them, they refused to break down and give him information. They’d been close for too long and therefore his glare didn’t have the effect on them that it used to. Levi huffed in defeat causing Hanji to victoriously smirk.

 

“Looks like Wittle Wevi is losing his touch!” They exclaimed with an over exaggerated pout.

 

“Fight me, shit stain.” He grumbles half-heartedly, deciding to return to the backroom and get some sort of work done for the shop since Hanji sure as hell wasn’t going to.

 

He ended up leaving the roses for Hanji to deal with and went on to begin a birthday bouquet for a girl named Annie which was supposed to consist of sweet peas which were her favorite flowers according to the person who ordered them.

 

Sweet peas were a nice and simple plant since it didn’t take much for them to look nice. They were already nice looking so you didn’t even need to throw that many into a bouquet for it to look finished. Since sweet peas were so resplendent, you had to be careful with overcrowding these types of flowers with unnecessary decorations.

 

At around noon the store bells rang and since he hadn’t heard Hanji tromping around the storefront for a while, he decided to go greet the customer incase they’d decided to flee the store for the second time today.

 

Sure enough, Hanji was nowhere in sight, however waiting patiently at the counter was one of their regulars, one who showed up every Wednesday during his lunch break to buy a single red rose. Levi had never formally introduced himself and neither had the freckled man, however Levi had seen the man’s credit card enough times to know his name was Marco.

 

 Neither Levi nor Hanji knew what Marco did each week with the single red rose, but they never found a place to casually bring it up in conversation.

 

“Hello, sir. What can I do for you today?” Marco smiled somewhat timidly at Levi, fumbling with his wallet.

 

“Just a red rose please.” Levi didn’t even need to tell him the price before Marco slid his card across the white counter top. Levi rang him up and handed back his card along with a receipt to sign. “Would you like some sort of wax paper or a ribbon around it?”

 

Marco shook his head and with a nervous smile he signed the receipt, taking off with the single flower in tow.

 

Levi wondered as the bell stopped jingling why Marco seemed so nervous today. Usually he graced the store with a bright smile and would indulge in small talk with whomever was at the counter, but today he seemed in a rush. Maybe it had to do with who he was giving the roses to?

 

He’d definitely have to tell Hanji about it if they ever decided to stop fucking around and come back to the shop.

 

With the quietness of the shop, Levi realized he’d never set the Spotify station so the store was eerily quiet at the moment. He hurriedly fixed it though as he turned on the speakers along with one of his playlists.

 

Now that he knew he was alone he had time to think through what Hanji could’ve possibly been talking about with Eren on the phone and how it all played into their scheme, but Levi was at a loss. Hanji’s ideas were so sporadic Levi was pretty sure they didn’t even know what their overall plan was either.

 

Levi figured that there wasn’t going to be many more customers so it would be a good a time as any to eat his sad excuse for a lunch since he wasn’t about to do the majority of Hanji’s work again today.

 

He nods along to the catchy, upbeat song with depressing lyrics that begins to play from the speakers and made his way towards the breakroom fridge before pulling out his lunch box.

 

Hanji says Levi looks in his element when he carries around his tin little Batman lunch box because he truly looks like a 5th grader, to which Levi kicks their shins, but he really can’t disagree; he just doesn’t like being called out on his shortness.

 

Right as he pulls out his plain turkey sandwich and puts it to his mouth, he hears the familiar, and annoying, sound of the bells jingling. Levi groans and drops his sandwich onto the baggie it was wrapped in before grudgingly getting up to greet the customer.

 

The customer had their back turned to Levi as he took his place, a _gain_ , behind the annoyingly white counter. “Hello, welcome to Zoe’s Flowers is there anything I can do for you today?”

 

Levi nearly has a heart attack when the costumer to reveal Eren wearing his everyday clothes instead of his tight pink uniform. “Oh hello, Levi!” Eren greeted Levi with a dazzling smile that nearly blinded him. “Hanji said you were having a bit of trouble with the lilacs, yes?”

 

That damned German accent would be the death of Levi.

 

“Uh.” Levi sputtered out unsure of what trouble could possibly be had with simple flowers such as lilacs. He nearly face palmed when he realized this was Hanji’s shitty attempt at getting Levi talking to Eren, but they could’ve at least warned him about their dumb excuse because now Levi had no clue what to say.

 

“She said that-“

 

“It’s they.” Levi corrected Eren quickly.

 

“Oh, yes, sorry I forgot I didn’t mean to offend them.” Eren was quick to apologize and spoke with a light blush dusting his cheeks. “Uhm, _they_ ” He went on timidly, making sure to use the correct pronouns, “said you were having trouble deciding which flowers to prune on them.”

 

Levi began rubbing his temple in annoyance. That was the dumbest excuse they could’ve thought of. You cut off the flowers that are brown and leave the rest as they are, even a ten year old would know that.

 

“Are you not looking for the help?” Eren asks confusedly, twiddling with the fabric of his dark green shorts absentmindedly.

 

Levi saw no reason to turn down extra alone time with the strikingly attractive man, so he shook his head. “No, I would appreciate it. Here follow me.” He glanced behind him to make sure Eren was following only to find Eren intensely staring back at Levi, which, in turn, caught Levi by surprise and resulted in him tripping over thin air and landing on the hard tiled floor of the back room.

 

Smooth.

 

Levi was expecting to hear Hanji’s obnoxious cackling, but instead heard a lovely laugh that made his insides turn to mush and his cheeks turned beet red in embarrassment.

 

“Sorry, Levi I do not mean to laugh at you! You just caught me by surprise, are you alright?” Eren asked, his teal eyes crinkled in mirth as he gazed down at Levi splayed out on the floor before reaching down and offering him support up.

 

And in that one motion, Levi now knew what movies were talking about when a princess was asked to dance by a prince at a ball when Eren’s tanned hand grasped Levi’s and hauled him off the floor.

 

Wait shit, this wasn’t supposed to sound like a fucking teen novel. Levi couldn’t find it in himself to care at the moment when he was standing close enough to Eren to feel the warmth radiating from his body.

 

He was wearing a low cut gray V-neck that showed off his well-defined collar bones along with his dark green shorts and some sort of musky cologne that Levi could smell from how close they were.

 

 _Get ahold of yourself, Levi_ he thought to himself as he took a step back and continued in the direction of the lilac crate.

 

He showed Eren where everything was kept in the storage room and the two of them went to work cutting off the dead flowers in respective silence which slowly filled with Eren telling odd memories that came into his mind. Surprisingly, Levi didn’t mind the interruption to the usual silence he worked in and even found himself engaging and adding comments to Eren’s stories.

 

After working for about twenty-five minutes, Levi’s stomach growled and he remembered he’d never technically eaten lunch even though it was already two in the afternoon.

 

“Levi, have you not eaten? It’s important to take breaks and not skip meals.” Eren lectured Levi from across the small wooden table they were working at.

 

Levi merely rolled his eyes, completely used to Hanji mothering him. “I know, I was about to eat lunch when you walked in and I forgot about it.”

 

Eren checked his phone, eyes widening when he saw the time displayed. “Shi-oot. I have a delivery due in twenty minutes I need to head out. Are you alright with pruning the lilacs on your own now?”  When Levi nodded Eren smiled in contentment.

 

Levi walked out with Eren to his truck, which was parked at the front curb again, and shut the driver side door for Eren once he was seated and buckled in.

 

Eren rolled down the window with a bashful smile. “Uhm, I found an extra flower from my last delivery. Would you like to keep it, yes?” His accent suddenly seemed heavier and Levi couldn’t help but feel dizzy from it.

 

“Yes.” Levi answered quickly, too quickly in his opinion, but Eren seemed pleased.

 

Eren reached into the back seat of the company truck before returning with a delicate purple orchid, handing it over to Levi with a self-conscious smile and a small blush.

 

“Oh, uh, thank you it’s beautiful.” Eren stuttered out something along the lines of ‘you’re welcome’ before starting the truck pulling away from where Levi had retreated to the sidewalk. Eren gave a small wave, which Levi returned with a completely red face before returning back inside the shop with his new token.

 

He sighed leaning against the door. Levi would have to kill Hanji later for the embarrassment they put him through, then thank them for it.

 

What a mess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my tumblr is [fortress-of-fanfics](http://fortress-of-fanfics.tumblr.com/)  
> I hope you enjoyed ! next chapter will focus more on hanji's scheme (which is mostly just them being a shit)
> 
> feel free to leave kudos or comments telling me what you thought/ any mistakes (my betas are all busy with finals atm so i'm bound to miss something)


	3. Hydrangea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hy·dran·gea  
> /hīˈdrānjə/ perseverance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUESS WHO'S DONE WITH FINALS???  
> i'm also on summer break rn which means chapters will (hopefully) come out pretty fast!
> 
> also omg i just realized i also had this chapter as orchids?? apparently i really like orchids or something? luckily i caught it right before i posted though
> 
> with that said ENJOY! tell me what you think!
> 
>  **AUTHOR NOTE:** this fic will be going on hiatus as of 7/12, i've fallen into quite a depression and have no motivation to write, also bc the friend i wrote this for isn't really in the snk fandom anymore and tbh neither am i. (i also dont have any betas in the snk fandom either so that's also a factor)
> 
> no ones probably gonna notice this hiatus though bc this fic is p unpopular, i do have part of chapter 4 written but i dont feel confident enough to post what i have. if you want to read what i have you can shoot me a message on my tumblr.
> 
> Idk when i'll get back to writing this but it'll definitely happen before season 2 comes out lmao. thanks for reading this huge mess, sorry for any inconvenience

 

The days blended together without Eren showing up to deliver the shop fresh batches of flowers. Levi hadn’t realized how much Eren’s lack of presence affected his already sour mood until Hanji pointed out the next Monday that Levi had an even bigger stick shoved up his ass than usual.

 

“I’m just saying instead of shoving sticks up your ass you could be shoving something else up there if you catch my drift.” Hanji insinuated with an obnoxious eyebrow wiggle as they helped Levi rearrange the flowers in the showcase fridges.

 

Levi huffed and pulled a droopy looking freesia from the fridge’s shelf, placing the droopy flower into the trash. “It’s not like that.”

 

“Then what _is_ it like?” They sighed in annoyance, undoubtedly about to go on a rant on the sadness of Levi’s love life, but before they could, the bell above the door rang.

 

Levi wouldn’t lie and say that his heart hadn’t started racing at the thought of Eren being the one to walk through the door, but when he turned around he was only met with the giant oaf that was Mike. Mike was another one of their other regular customers, if he could even be called a customer since all he did was stand around drinking their coffee while catching up on the latest town gossip with Hanji.

 

Hanji had apparently lost their train of thought at the sight of Mike and instead focused on showering him in a barrage of questions. “MIKE!” They exclaimed running up to the comically tall blond, bouncing around him like an overexcited corgi. “Where’ve you been this past week? You missed so much.” At this they began to fill Mike in on everything he’d missed while he was bed ridden with the flu.

 

Surprisingly, Levi didn’t mind their chatter as much as he usually would since the drama at least helped keep his mind off of a certain delivery boy.

 

Eren not only delivered flowers, but he also delivered really fucking confusing signals.

 

 

Levi had zoned out of Hanji’s rambling for a while and instead chose to hum along the song playing over the speaker when he noticed Hanji was getting quieter and quieter before suddenly screaming. “AND LIKE SO THIS GUY IS JUST THE CUTEST, MIKE!”

 

At this, Levi discretely shifted his head to the side, deciding to listen in to the now hushed voices. However, with the music playing and the crinkling of the silk paper, Levi could only hear small bits of the conversation, noticing that it was difficult to hear since Mike and Hanji had moved further back into the shop. “got a small- on him…. Flower on the desk and he… home.”

 

Sighing and brushing the dirt off of his apron, Levi stood up from the crouch he’d been stuck in for the past ten minutes, causing his knees to crack rather loudly. He bent down to grab the now full trash bag before hauling it past Hanji and Mike who immediately started talking loudly about Petra and Oluo as he passed, causing Levi to roll his eyes.

 

He walked into the back alley behind the shop and tossed the surprisingly heavy bag of dead flowers over the side of the dumpster, waving to Petra who was also in the middle of taking out the trash.

 

Deciding to be a little shit to Hanji, that gossipy little fuck, he abruptly slammed open the backdoor as he walked back into the store, causing a wide-eyed Mike to nearly trip over the watering can behind him and for Hanji to let out a shrill scream while scrambling to jump into Mike’s arms.

 

Levi snorted as he smugly sauntered past the disaster he created. “I’m literally working five feet away from you nosey fucks, stop talking about me.”

 

Hanji’s eyes widened in realization before narrowing into what Levi supposed they thought was intimidating before grabbing the nearest weapon, in this case a broom, and began chasing him around the shop.

 

Now, Levi had never feared Hanji, but in this moment he’d be an idiot not to run away from the crazy fuck who was trying to whack him with a dirty broom.

 

 “LEVI, YOU LITTLE SHRIMP.” They screamed, running around the main showcase in the middle of the store which Levi was currently ducking behind. “WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING, YOU LITTLE FUUU-.” Their battle cry suddenly cut off as the bell to the door rings. Within that three second period before the customer walked through the door, Hanji quickly jumped off the counter, flung the broom into the hallway, while Levi jumped up from his crouching position underneath the checkout counter and stood erect behind the register.

 

Well, not t _hat_ kind of erect. That only happened when Eren was around.

 

“Hello, welcome to Zoe’s Flowers. How can I help you today?” Levi greets the customer slightly out of breath. When the customer comes into view though, Levi automatically groans and slumps down onto the stool behind the counter. “Oh, it’s just you.”

 

Erwin, dressed in his signature 70’s porno mailman get up, sidled up to the checkout counter with an orange clipboard and a large, long looking box. “Hanji, I think you should work more on Levi’s customer skills. They need a bit of work.” He shot Levi a pageant worthy smile.

 

Levi gave him a deadpan glare for a few seconds before throwing his arms up in surrender. “Fuck this, I’m taking my break.”

 

Erwin and Hanji started cackling, well, Hanji was doing most of the cackling, and Mike snorted from beside Hanji. “Aww, common, Levi.” Levi rolled his eyes but sat back down while Erwin properly greeted Hanji and Mike.

 

“Oh, before I forget.” Erwin pulled out a clipboard from somewhere behind him and slid the box from Amazon across the white counter. Erwin lowered his voice into a sultry drawl for effect. “I’ve got a large _package_ for you, Levi.”

 

“Oh my god, get out of here right now before I kick your ‘ _package.’_ ” Levi face palmed, but nonetheless signed the clipboard Erwin handed him.

 

Hanji snickered as they reached for the large box to shake it, trying to decipher what was inside like a fucking six year old on Christmas, which pretty much summed up Hanji’s entire personality. “Levi, he does this every time we order something I don’t understand how you aren’t used to it by now.”

 

Levi rolls his eyes. “Just because I’m used to it doesn’t mean I have to tolerate his shit.”

 

“Anyhooo! I’ve just remembered some important information to tell you!” Hanji said as they hopped up onto the counter Levi had just cleaned, much to Levi’s chagrin, with a wicked grin on their face.

 

Levi knew what was going to come out of their mouth was going to be obnoxious, but he’d never expected it to be _that_ obnoxious. “Okay so, Erwin, guess what you missed last time you came in? I was just telling Mike earlier before Levi had to go and be a piss ass.” Levi huffed and crossed his arms. “Levi found a _lovely_ man that struck his fancy.”

 

Erwin’s bulky eyebrows raised in interest, and Mike leaned in closer to the counter. Levi huffed in annoyance, quickly deflecting the accusation. “Eren didn’t strike my fancy. Besides I haven’t even really talked to him about something that wasn’t flowers.”

 

“But he always leaves you romantic flowers!” Hanji gives him an exasperated look, meanwhile Erwin looked like he was trying to piece together the information that hadn’t been explained yet with that dumb, constipated look he always got.

 

As if struck by lightning, Hanji abruptly leaned across the counter and slammed their hands down. “PLUS! You always get a mini chub whenever he freaking talks, Wittle Wying Wevi!” They add, poking him on his now bright red nose to emphasize his new nickname.

 

Levi’s eyes widened and his cheeks became flushed as Erwin and Mike howled with laughter. “I won’t hesitate to throttle you, shit fucker.” He narrowed his eyes at the smug looking grin that they were wearing.

 

“So, what’s Eren like?” Erwin interjected before Levi could actually go to jump over the counter and strangle Hanji.

 

“ _Gooorgeous_!” Hanji exclaimed. Everyone looked towards Levi, who begrudgingly nodded in agreement.

 

Mike snorted lightly. “What does gorgeous look like?” 

 

Mike and Erwin turned towards Hanji, expecting them to answer, but Hanji’s hazel eyes were dead set on Levi’s gray ones, not so subtly urging him to tell them about his crush himself.

 

Levi leaned back on the stool and tried to look as uninterested as possible. “He’s nice looking I guess.”

 

“LEVII!” Hanji pushed him, rather hardly to be honest. “Common, you’ve been pining after this cutie patootie for w _eeks_.”

 

Levi mumbled something along the lines of fine and Hanji rushed behind the counter to grab the second stool stored under it in order to get comfortable. Meanwhile, Erwin and Mike had taken to sitting on the counter just as Hanji had been a few moments ago.

 

 Levi was de _finitely_ going to need to clean the damn counter again later.

 

He sighed and closed his eyes, deciding to be as completely honest as he could to get them off his back. “Well, first of all, I don’t even really know if I have any feelings for him, but he’s got a nice ass and really fucking amazing eyes like they’re blue, green and shit. It’s great.” Levi paused to collect his thoughts, but in actuality he was stalling. “Plus he’s got this fucking accent and it makes you want to cream your pants every time he opens his mouth. Swear to god he could be telling me about his shitting schedule and I’d probably have a boner. ” He finished with a heavy sigh, but Hanji motioned for him to continue. “And his personality isn’t too bad either.” He added albeit timidly.

 

Everyone was stunned into silence, Levi included. So much for his secret infatuation with the delivery boy.

 

“Sounds like some crush.” Erwin replied with his huge eyebrows raised and a thousand watt smile adorning his pageant worthy face.

 

Even Hanji was rendered speechless. “Damn, Levi, you horn dog. You’ve got it bad.” Suddenly they were grinning again and rapidly leaning towards Levi, trapping him in a bear hug he couldn’t hope to get out of.

 

Soon Mike and Erwin were joining the hug and squeezing to the point where Levi wasn’t sure if he’d be able to breathe normally again.

 

“ALRIGHT! Get off of me.” Levi protested trying, and failing, to wiggle out of their strong hold. “This isn’t the fucking Brady Bunch.”

 

They did end up letting Levi go, which he dramatically breathed in deeply for a good minute, and he was about to make them feel even shittier for fucking up his lungs when he heard the back door shut lightly.

 

“Wait, what the hell was that?” They all looked back at him with confusion before hearing the back door too.

 

Levi probably would’ve been scared to investigate the scene without any sort of weapon besides a broom and scissors had Erwin and Mike not been there, but together they made towards the back, only to find Eren piling up crates of flowers from the company truck that he’d parked in the back alley today for some reason.

 

“EREN!” Hanji screams excitedly at Eren who gives a hesitant smile in return. “Why didn’t you come say hello? We could’ve helped you with the boxes!”

 

“Ah, hello. Sorry you all seemed very uhm,” He paused awkwardly before busying himself with setting down a crate. “Busy I didn’t want to interrupt.”

 

Hanji quickly glanced back to Levi, wondering if Levi noticed Eren was off too, but Erwin stepped in before things could get too awkward. He could’ve sworn he’d seen drool hanging from Eren’s mouth at the sight of Erwin in his tight uniform. “I haven’t introduced myself yet, have I?”

 

No, Levi thought bitterly as Eren stared in awe at Erwin’s face, obviously not considering you’d just learned of his existence a few minutes ago. Wait.

 

Why was Levi being so defensive over Eren all of a sudden? Especially when it concerned Erwin, his best friend since college?

 

Fucking testosterone.

 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Erwin.” And god damn if Levi wasn’t completely jealous over the way Eren spoke that eyebrow fucker’s name. “Oh, and you too Mike!” He quickly added, shaking Mike’s hand.

 

“Alright, now that we’ve all met each other can we get on with our days. Erwin don’t you have other deliveries to get to?” Levi questioned harshly.

 

That smug fucker knew exactly what Levi was getting at, choosing merely to roll his eyes before grabbing his mail bag off the floor near the counter and leaving with Mike in tow. “Have a good day everyone. Eren it was nice meeting you.”

 

“You too!” Eren called after him excitedly before setting about getting the last crates out of the truck with Hanji’s and his help.

 

But damn, Levi needed to get some less attractive friends.

 

Levi was a solid six and Erwin was a fucking ten on a bad day. God damn his charmingly good looks and his fucking great personality. Why couldn’t Levi be like that too?

 

“Fuck off dumb thoughts.”

 

“Huh?” Levi nearly jumped three feet in the air, not realizing that Eren was right behind him.

 

“Oh, uh, nothing.” Levi brushed Eren’s questioning off hastily. “Are you, uh, feeling better from earlier?”

 

Eren seemed confused at first, most likely from the quick subject change, before his face turned a deep shade of red. “Yes, I’m feeling better. Thank you for noticing, Levi.”

 

He was, of course, severely nosey and curious as to what was wrong earlier, but he wasn’t about to poke around in Eren’s business and risk annoying him. So instead Levi nodded at him and took the last box, a cart full of premade pots of delphiniums along with one stray pot containing hydrangeas.

 

Levi stopped abruptly in the doorway, causing Eren to bump into him. “Wait, we didn’t order any hydrangeas?”

 

Eren simply smiled and reached around Levi to grab them out of the crate. “They’re for you. Do you like hydrangeas?”

 

Levi dumbly nodded at him. “Pretty.”

 

Eren raised an eyebrow in mock confusion, moving to set the pot of hydrangeas on the counter where Mike had been sitting a few minutes ago. “The hydrangeas?”

 

Wait. Was Eren flirting with him?

 

“Among other things.” Levi answered slyly, setting down the last crate near the others before making his way over to where Eren was.

 

Was Levi flirting back?

 

He wasn’t quite sure where his confidence had come from, but man, he was glad he could actually form sentences around Eren now. Levi moved behind the counter and pulled out the shop’s check book with shaking hands, hoping Eren wouldn’t notice them.

 

Fucking social anxiety.

 

Fucking gorgeous ass delivery man.

 

Levi handed Eren his check, willing his hands to not shake as much as they had been, but Eren’s eyes were still trained on Levi’s in intense eye contact. Levi cleared his throat awkwardly when Eren didn’t immediately step away from the counter.

 

“Thanks for the flowers. Again.” Eren smiled brightly at this, leaning closer across the counter to the point where Levi could hear Eren breathing. Wow, that sounded really creepy, Levi thought to himself, but shook himself out of his thoughts to catch what Eren had to say.

 

“It’s no problem! I really like finding flowers for you to enjoy.” Levi noticed Eren’s German accent had become thicker the longer he was in Levi’s presence.

 

Levi was about to reply, probably to say something dumb, when a beeping noise filled the room. Eren looked down at his watch with widened eyes, shooting Levi a sheepish look. “Sorry, I have to head out to deliver some daffodils. I’ll see you Thursday though, right?”

 

Levi nodded with a small smile which caused Eren to smile even wider. “Good. See you then, Levi.” He waved to Levi as he walked out the back door and hopped into the flower truck.

 

And as Eren left, Levi finally understood what people meant when they said; hate when you go, but love watching you leave because _damn_ it sucked when Eren left, but _damn_ that was a fine ass.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> come talk to me! my tumblr is [fortress-of-fanfics](http://fortress-of-fanfics.tumblr.com/)  
> next chapter is the jeanmarco aside where we'll finally figure out what was up with all those roses!
> 
> comments and kudos make me super happy so feel free to leave some!

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos keep me writing + updating faster so feel free to leave some love!
> 
> my tumblr: [fortress-of-fanfics](http://fortress-of-fanfics.tumblr.com/)  
> 


End file.
